Western Sun Rising

Cool things in Beijing

2009-07-25T19:07:00.000-07:00

Here's a list of cool things I liked in Beijing:

798 Art Zone
798艺术区 (798 Yìshùqū)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/798_Art_Zone

D-22
http://www.d-22.cn/

Purple Bamboo Park
紫竹院公園 (Zǐ Zhú Yuàn Gōngyuán)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purple_Bamboo_Park

Wangfujing
王府井 (Wángfǔjǐng)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wangfujing

The Pearl Market
红桥市场 (hóng qiáo shìchǎng)
http://www.thebeijingguide.com/shopping/hongqiao-market.html

The Silk Market
秀水街 (Xiùshuǐjiē)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silk_Street

Xinjiekou Street
新街口 (Xīnjiēkǒu)
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/citylife/2006-05/25/content_600021.htm

Zhongguancun
中关村 (Zhōngguāncūn)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhongguancun

Panjiayuan Antique Market
潘家园 (Pānjiāyuán)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panjiayuan

Chinese Fastfood

2009-06-20T05:42:00.000-07:00

Here's an intersting CNN report on fastfood in China:

link

Tiananmen Square Protests 20th anniversary

2009-06-04T10:50:00.000-07:00

Today is the 20th anniversary of the crackdown of the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 (known in Chinese as the June 4th Incident or 六四运动 / 六四事件). They started on April 14th and ended on June 4th when tanks were sent to Tiananmen square. The number dead is ranged from 241 to 2,600. The protests were seen by the West as a reach for Democracy.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiananmen_Square_protests_of_1989

There are many videos on CNN.com right now about the anniversary - sorry for the lack of updates, I've been very sick lately.

Chinese Scrap Collectors and the Economy

2009-04-23T10:47:00.000-07:00

Check out this new video to see how Chinese scrap collectors are faring in the harsh times of the economy:

Link

And here is another video about the recycling business in Hongkong and China:

Link

CNN Starts it's First Online Newscast in Mandarin

2009-04-18T15:28:00.000-07:00

CNN has just uploaded it's first online newscast entierly in Mandarin to the web!

It is an overview of recent events all told in Mandarin! Here is the first broadcast:

Link

The Grass Mud Horse

2009-04-05T12:01:00.001-07:00

Here's the Original New York Times article:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/12/world/asia/12beast.html?_r=2&hp

And CNN's report:

Let's learn Chinese!

草泥马 (cǎo ní mǎ) - Grass Mud Horse
肏你妈的 (cào nǐ mā de) - F*** Your Mother's (c***)
河蟹 (hé xiè) - River Crab
和偕 (hé xié) - Harmonization
马勒戈壁 (mǎ lè gēbì) - Ma Le Gobi
你妈的屄 (nǐ mā de bī)- Your Mother's C***

You can see how similar the phrases are and why such a seemingly innocent video is causing such a stir.

For more on Chinese swear words, check out this wikipedia page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandarin_slang

Here's the original Grass Mud Horse video:

Here are the lyrics:

在那荒茫美丽马勒戈壁有一群草泥马
In the vast and desolate Ma Le Gobi desert, there is a herd of Grass Mud Horses

他们活泼又聪明，他们调皮又灵敏，他们由自在生活在那草泥马戈壁，他们顽强勇敢克服艰苦环境。
They are lively and intelligent, mischievous and sensitive. They live freely on the Grass Mud Horse Gobi, and tenaciously and bravely face the harsh environment there.

噢，卧槽的草泥马！噢，狂槽的草泥马！他们为了卧草不被吃掉打败了河蟹，河蟹从此消失草泥马戈壁
Oh! The Grass Mud Horse lying down, the Grass Mud Horse going nuts! To protect their grass from being eaten, they defeated the River Crab. From then on, the River Crab disappeared from the Grass Mud Horse Gobi!

And here is another video featuring the Grass Mud Horse:

China Blocks Youtube

2009-03-26T11:41:00.001-07:00

Music in China

2009-03-24T11:21:00.000-07:00

A video I made. Let's see if it works...

Family in China Set themselves on Fire over Dispute with the Government

2009-03-11T20:01:00.001-07:00

3/9/2009 From CNN.com:

BEIJING, China (CNN) -- Three family members who set themselves on fire in Beijing last month were apparently protesting the demolition of their home and were demanding "too much" compensation, an official said.

A couple in their 50s and their son were inside a car when the fire began on February 25 in a downtown Beijing shopping area. All three were recuperating in a hospital, the state-run news agency Xinhua said.

The family is from the northwestern Xinjiang region. The chairman of the regional government, Nur Bekri, told parliament Monday that the family had been "properly compensated" for the demolition of their home to make way for a school.

They received a home and 400,000 yuan ($58,430) in relocation fees, he said.

The family, however, was "demanding too much," Bekri was quoted as saying by Xinhua.

They wanted "decent" jobs, an apology from the local government and reimbursement of fees covering visits to appeal to the government, Bekri said.

Alice in Wonderland

2009-02-11T07:51:00.000-08:00

As many of you know, my favorite book is Alice in Wonderland. Well I just got word that Tim Burton is directing a new adaptation and that Johnny Depp will be playing the Mad Hatter. Here's a shot of him in costume:

The IMDB page can be found here: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1014759/

Also, while I was in Beijing, I had a chance to stop by the National Library which was located near my dorm. I was savvy enough to find a copy of Alice in Wonderland in Chinese and to make a quick copy of the title page and first two chapters. Take a look:

The copier had to block out some part of it for some reason, hence the big white square (I think it was to cover up the library seal so it couldn't be reproduced or something). I wrote in the publishers name by hand at the bottom.

The title is 爱丽丝漫游奇境. The first three characters denote Alice's name being translated to àilìsī which I translate as "lovely beautiful silk" and the rest is mànyóuqíjìng or "roams through a strange place."

China Censored Barack Obama's Inauguration Speech

2009-01-26T18:59:00.001-08:00

China censored its translation of President Barack Obama's inauguration speech, removing references to communism and dissent, and quickly halted state television's live broadcast of the address when Cold War-era animosities were mentioned.

Read the whole article here.

Chinese Migration

2009-01-22T20:48:00.000-08:00

Some Friends I made in China

2009-01-11T14:42:00.000-08:00

Van Ahn

Tram

Tang Ming Ming

Suki

Liu Liu

Lisa

Ju-Ju

Jabeh

Fu Bo

Duan You

My brother left for the Army

2009-01-11T14:25:00.001-08:00

My brother just switched from the Army Reserves into the Army. He is now in Georgia for the next two years. Good luck bro!

Here's a pic of my brother, my father, and me on the day he left:

Back In America

2008-12-28T09:07:00.000-08:00

So I have been home from China for a week now. I have much to post about my time in China and what's been going on in America. Now that I have no more school work, you can expect alot more updates from me, so keep checking in.
Also, a late Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays. Here are some pictures:

Christmas Tree

Christmas Dinner

Birthday Cake

Maria in the dress I bought her at the silk market

McDonalds

2008-11-23T05:41:00.000-08:00

I just found out that McDonalds delivers in China. I will have to try this out for myself...

Chinese Board Games

2008-11-16T06:22:00.000-08:00

As most of you know, I love board games. And as most of you know, I love China. And as you can probably guess, Chinese board games are the bee's knees. So I've been working on my favorite site http://www.BoardGameGeek.com to make a list of the most classical of Chinese board games. If you are interested, you can view it here.

Lei Feng vs Taylor

2008-11-11T09:48:00.000-08:00

The resemblance is uncanny.

More on Lei Feng here.

Halloween Party

2008-10-30T21:30:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was our Halloween party. I decided to throw it on Thursday as opposed to Friday because everyone is going clubbing on Friday. I invited everyone I knew and we had a huge turnout. The decorations were done with what was available (toilet paper, construction paper and markers) but I am pleased with the overall result. We watched a scary movie on a projector I borrowed from the school. It was called Hatchet and was pretty bad - but we had fun watching it anyway. This is the first party I have ever thrown and I learned alot. Cleaning up is a BIG pain in the end. Also, atmosphere is everything. Here are some pictures:

Fun with projector and MSPaint

Emily's "pumpkin." Pumpkins were actually really too hard to find so she found a tiny little orange melon-thing. It caught fire halfway through the movie and is now a little black melon-thing.

Waiting for the movie

Waiting for the movie

Some of the attendees socializing

Qinghai Notes

2008-10-29T10:45:00.001-07:00

My field notes from Qinghai are now available to download if you are interested in reading them.

Link is here.

The Basketball Game

2008-10-26T00:27:00.001-07:00

Here is a clip from the game of basketball we played with the Tibetans in LíJiāXiá.

Back from Qinghai

2008-10-23T09:44:00.000-07:00

So we made it successfully back from Qinghai. There are too many stories to tell and pictures to show, so here is a (relatively) short look at our two weeks there:

Meeting some local Tibetan families in the village of Da Cang. It snowed our first day there, but after our directors friend (a tantric yogi) performed a weather ritual, the snow ceased.

Herding yaks with our host family.

Taking a break on top of a hill. Da Cang was at a very high altitude which made the air very thin and the sunshine very brutal. Most of our group suffered headaches for the first few days. Our lack of clothing testifies for the extreme heat.

Riding a horse. Ackah Sonam (the tantric yogi) and our bus driver look on in the background.

Visiting the local Tibetan school. We had a chance to teach the children there some English and to play with them ouside.

A school child.

Another school child. I adored this girl. She was very shy but very sweet.

A ritual where we "release" sheep. Basically, a blessing is done to the sheep and the tips of their ears are cut signaling that they have been released. This means that they will get to live full lives and not be slaughtered for food. Tibetan farmers perform rituals like these to make up for bad things they have done. It works on a certain "karma" principal. The ritual can be performed anytime you are feeling "guilty."

Visiting Qinghai lake (a very sacred lake in Qinghai).

Cleaning up trash at Qinghai lake. We met some Taiwanese tourists there who pitched in. This girls name is Li Min. She was a great help and spoke a little English.

Group shot with our nomadic (now sedentry) host family.

View from a hill overlooking Qinghai lake.

We took a pitsop in Gong He and while walking around at midnight, I almost fell in this manhole. It looked like a regular manhole, but when I stepped on it, it flipped. I almost fell in and it almost crushed my leg.

A car accident on our way to the Re Shuo Gou hotspring.

View at the Re Shuo Gou hotspring. Notice both men and women mixing. It was a very refreshing (and very warm) bathing experience.

At the hotspring we were the talk of the town. Not many Westerners come there and people couldn't help but stare.

At Ga Rang we took a hike to visit Ackah Sonam's father, a local Tibetan medicine man.

We passed an old Mongolian fortress.

Me in the fields near the fortress.

Group photo with Ackah Sonam's father (the medicine man) and his family.

We took a hike up a mountain to visit a Buddhist abbot at the top. Here I am on a smaller hill. It was a very hard climb up.

A group photo in front of the Buddhist abbot. He is a very well respected man in the area.

View from the abbots abode. It was a LONG climb up.

Praying at an altar with a fire that never goes out.

On one of our free days in Ga Rang we climbed the mountain behind the school we were staying at. Here is a photo my friend JJ took of me.

Here is another photo by JJ. I am overlooking the school and Ga Rang.

Getting down the mountain was alot easier.

Me jumping.

Kyle jumping.

A meeting of monks and nuns to celebrate the half construction of our director's school. We spent the previous day painting the outside of it.

Group photo with the monks and nuns.

Group photo of us and our new Tibetan jackets we had custom made.

Monk leaving on a motorcycle.

We went to the village of Li Jia Xia and played basket ball with the Tibetan highschool kids there. No one there had ever seen a real Westerner before and the whole edge of the court was packed with kids and teachers who clapped and cheered for both teams.

Tibetan team and the American team together.

Ping-Pong table at the school.

Average toilet in Qinghai (when available).

Taking a boat across a lake.

Hiking up ANOTHER mountain to visit a monastery. Stairs do not make the climb any easier.

Me at the top of the mountain.

Visiting a nunnery. Here they are performing a ceremony with chanting and music.

The local pool hall in Xining.

The beggars in Xining were very ruthless. There were monks who would grab you and not let you go and this man in particular who grabbed hold of Kyles leg and was dragged around.

Qinghai

2008-10-09T10:14:00.001-07:00

This post is just to let everyone know that I am traveling to Qinghai province from 10/10/08 until 10/24/08. I will be living with the CIEE group, doing fieldwork around Tibetan nomads. A two hour flight is in store for us followed by a two hour bus ride. When I return, you can expect a whole slew of updates and photos.

(We will be in the north-east part of Qinghai province)

Scene From the Streets

2008-10-02T21:24:00.001-07:00

Here is a video that I took outside of my dorm a few weeks ago.

Happy Anniversary

2008-09-29T05:48:00.000-07:00

Just wishing my girlfriend Maria Wong a happy two-year anniversary. This has been the best two years of my life. Even though we are half a world away, you're always close to my heart. I love you.

Overview of my Campus

2008-09-27T06:25:00.001-07:00

Here is a aerial view of my campus (click to enlarge):

A quick look at Beijing

2008-09-26T23:53:00.000-07:00

I thought it would be interesting to show what Beijing is like, infrastructure-wise. Here are some select pictures that I thought were very telling.

This is how people in Beijing recycle. I'm guessing these vans show up every now and then and people bring out any recycleables they have. Cans and bottles are counted and paper products are weighed (you can see the scale behind the man in the orange).

Here is the local magazine stand. On any given night, it is regularly crowded with students browsing and buying literature.

Beijing has pimped-out cars, just like America. I'm not sure what the signifigance of "Life Guard" is, however...

Here is a scene that most Chinese do not bat an eye at. My western-thinking mind finds such a sight extremely hazardous.

These collapsable, orange barriers are designed to stop people from parking in designated spots. They can be found all over the city. Notice that these parking spots are, infact, on the sidewalk.

Here is the local pet-store:

And hazards like these can be very fatal. I have tripped over them inumerable times during the night.

Lastly, here are some scenes of Beer-Pong with Tibetans:

798

2008-09-12T23:29:00.000-07:00

A few days ago we visited 798 Art District in Beijing. From Wikipedia:

"798 Art Zone (Chinese: 798; pinyin: 798 Yìshùqū), or Dashanzi Art District, is a part of Dashanzi in the Chaoyang District of Beijing that houses a thriving artist community, among 50-year old decommissioned military factory buildings of unique architectural style. It is often compared with New York's Greenwich Village or SoHo, but faces impending destruction from the forces driving Beijing's urban sprawl."

It was a really cool place and we got to see alot of art. Here are a few examples:

Urinals in the style of Marcel Duchamp:

This was my favorite piece:

Up close you can see it is made entierly out of metal:

Even the notes along bottom:

And all the gray metal has this pattern of Yuan:

In unrelated news, there was a traffic accident outside my dorm. This cop hit a taxi:

Also, I made pancakes!

That's all for now! Stay tuned for more!

Tourist Week!

2008-09-05T19:06:00.000-07:00

So this week we did many touristy things. Heres a breif recap of what happened and where we went. This should be my last all-picture update as school is starting and I won't be taking as many photos.

Dinner at Yu Laoshi's House

Random Chinese girls we met on the track and hung out with until 1:00AM

Forbidden City concubine entrance

Forbidden City

Random Korean tourists who were in love with foreigners

Forbidden City group shot

Tianmen Square

Outside the Mao-soleum

Outside the Mao-soleum

Sprinkle-Fish lunch

Temple of Heavenly Peace

Temple of Heavenly Peace gate

Temple of Heavenly Peace

Heavenly Center Stone

Great Wall - its a long way up!

Great wall group shot

Inside great wall tower

Great wall

Leaving the Great Wall

Photo Update!

2008-09-02T02:40:00.001-07:00

Here is my completed first update. It's Day 4 on my trip to China and everything is awesome. But how did I get here and how am I living? Well that's what you can see in these first couple of photos:

1st plane trip, Boston to Newark, NJ. 1Hour

2nd plane trip. Newark, NJ to Beijing, China. 13 hours.

Our flight plan.

Snow on the Arctic.

A rude Chinese man's feet on my arm rest.

The Great Wall from above.

Beijing from above.

Leaving the airport.

My dorm!

View of inside hallway.

Inside hallway right.

Kitchen with patio in back.

View outside window of patio.

Bathroom (notice the lack of a shower curtain).

Bedroom.

Bathmat I bought!

Living room and my roommate Michael

Breakfast on campus. Delicious!

Breakfast at cafeteria. (Also delicious!)

Japanese bento box lunch from 7/11 in hallway of classrooms. (Also delicious!)

Only in China is this normal.

Big underground shopping mall.

More to come! Check back regularly!